Simulating progressive failure in brittle jointed rock masses using a modified elastic-brittle model and the application

Abstract To analyse the damage evolution process of jointed rock masses, a modified numerical model on the basis of secondary development in fast Lagrangian analysis of Continua (FLAC3D) is proposed to simulate the fracture development of jointed rock mass. To validate the feasibility of this numerical model, numerous case studies on 2-D and 3-D cracking problems are conducted. The progressive failure processes of rock specimens with two pre-cracks under uniaxial and biaxial compressions are simulated and compared with the results obtained from the lab experiments, and they are found to be in good agreement. The failure processes of heterogeneous rock specimens with four pre-cracks are studied for further analysis. When applied to 3-D cases, the numerical results consistently match lab test results. Moreover, it is also used to analyse the failure process of a 3-D Weibull distribution specimen with an internal crack. Finally, it is used to investigate the crack propagation and stability of a slope project, presenting an excellent effect. It is concluded that this numerical model is effective and efficient in dealing with 3-D and numerous element cases.